


A Bad Night

by lolahardy



Series: From Dark to Light [7]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Stripper/Exotic Dancer, Angst, Arguing, Class Differences, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Eventual Sex, Eventual Smut, Internal Conflict, M/M, Power Imbalance, Sexual Assault, Slow Build, Strippers & Strip Clubs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-02
Updated: 2014-06-02
Packaged: 2018-02-03 02:29:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1727780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lolahardy/pseuds/lolahardy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a bad night for Arthur</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Bad Night

**Author's Note:**

> Beta-ed by my darling [Leesha](http://darlingleesha.tumblr.com)!

****

It was a bad night.

It was one of the usual nights Eames would come in but he hadn’t shown up.

Arthur felt angry. Angry at himself for caring, angry at Eames for not showing up.

After his set, he was accosted by a group of loud, extremely drunk businessmen. They weren’t uncommon though they usually came alone. The crowd was new and Arthur was unfortunate enough to be stuck with them.

He politely smiled at first, laughing at their lame jokes, sweetly turning down drinks, flirted along with them as they tried to make passes at him. When they got a bit grabby on his arms and hands, he could still brush them off with a smile, making jokes about touching club property.

One of the businessmen managed to get Arthur to sit beside him, fortunately at the edge of the booth but he put his arm around Arthur, large, sweaty pit stains on his dress shirt rubbed against Arthur’s skin and he did his best not to cringe. He kept his polite smile as he listened to their mindless conversation, laughed when appropriate and kept a mental count of how long he had to stay before moving onto another table since this crowd was wasting his time.

He glanced around once more, still not seeing Eames when he felt the sweaty man touching his back, his hot, clammy palm smoothing down his back. Arthur flinched and his smile faded for just a second before he gave a coy look and said,

“Hey, come on, you know the rule about touching.”

“How about a private dance?”

“If that’s what you’d like.”

His skin crawled but he fronted as if he was just waiting for this sweaty drunk to take him to a private room.

The sweaty man was lead to the champagne room, left only with his wallet and was seated after he was cleared by the bouncer. It had been such a long time since Arthur had to give a private dance to someone that wasn’t Eames. Usually Eames took up so much of his time and paid so much for it that Arthur usually went home afterwards. Now he was stuck with some doughy, sweaty business man that was salivating - literally, drool sliding at the corner of his mouth that he had to reach up with the back of his hand to wipe it off. The man’s hair was thinning and dark, his shirt stained and wrinkled, a wedding ring present on his hairy knuckled finger and when he pat his lap after spreading open his legs, Arthur had to smile and act as if he couldn’t wait.

“Money first.”

With anyone but Eames, Arthur always demanded his money first. It never occurred to him to ask Eames for his money first. It dawned on him just then.

“Of course, of course.”

The man took out his wallet and took out his money, handing it to Arthur. He took it and counted it before folding it over and tucking it into the waistband of his shorts.

He began to move, keeping his mind focused on the movements as he approached the sweaty client. He went through the motions before getting on the man’s lap, his arms up around the man’s shoulders. He moved when he felt the man’s clammy hands on his hips, jerking him forward suddenly as Arthur stopped and brought his grip on his wrists.

“Hey, you can’t touch me.”

“I’ll give you extra, come on…”

Arthur winced as he felt his fingers digging into him harder, right into his hip bones, nails biting sharply into his skin and the fabric of his shorts. Arthur frowned a bit as he tugged again, getting angry now.

“It’s club policy. Let go of me.”

“Other dancers do it for extra.”

Arthur managed to rip one of his hands off him as he tried getting up only to be pulled back down.

“You’re not finished!”

“Yes, I am.”

He pulled back as the businessman yanked him forward, pulling him back on his lap.

“I’ll tell your manager. You really want to lose your job?”

“You’ll be kicked out after I tell them how you’re touching me.”

“All right, all right...I’ll stop touching you. Just finish.”

Arthur wanted to get up and walk away. He rather lose the money for the night than dance for a potential problem but he didn’t. He waited until sweaty man’s hands were back on the couch before he continued.

The man stank of sour body odor and cheap beer and when he started to moan, his breath was disgusting, rancid...as if he hadn’t brushed his teeth in days. Arthur had to turn his face away as he moved, turning his back to him keep dancing. When he lay against him, rubbing against the sweaty man, he was once again grabbed, only now, his arms were wrapped around him to hold him in place. Arthur gasped for a second, for a moment feeling panic as the sweaty man began thrusting against him, trying to finish as Arthur reached up, pulling at his arms, wanting to yell but he fought instead, struggling to get up which only seem to excite the man.

“Get off of me!”

The moment Arthur shouted, his mouth was covered by the man’s clammy hand. He really fought then, feeling his other hand sliding down his stomach, trying to slip under his shorts. Arthur pressed his thighs together, trying to get up, feeling the man’s disgusting hands fondle him, touching his dick as he was trying to jerk him off but much to Arthur’s horror, the sweaty man just wanted to fondle him and come.

When he did, he groaned against Arthur’s hair, breath hot and foul and Arthur stopped for a moment, his breathing restricted as the man’s arms tightened around him. He was let go then and Arthur fell to the floor, his skin crawling, the heat of his anger burning through him as he crawled away from the man and stood up immediately.

His first instinct was to fight - to throw himself at the man with full intention of punching his face in, kneeing him in the gut until he threw up and crushing his balls under his sneaker but instead, he stood and trembled for a moment, watching the man get up as he took out his wallet and dug out some more money and threw it at Arthur with a smile.

Arthur immediately followed him out and told the bouncer of what had happened, showing him the marks on his arms and hips that were still red and would probably bruise. He pointed him out and watched as the crowd of drunk businessmen applauded the sweaty man when he returned, their jubilation turning to hostility when the bouncer began throwing the sweaty man out.

Arthur collected his money and took a break in the back. He felt gross and he put his head down at his table, wishing he could go home to shower. He still had a full shift though and he just needed to collect his wits about him before going back out.

It hadn’t been the first time Arthur was molested by an entitled customer. The first time had left him shaking, close to tears and while the years had hardened him against feeling so vulnerable, it left him feeling no less repulsed. He sat up after about ten minutes and picked himself up and headed to the bathroom. He washed his hands and used damped paper towels to wipe off his body and his hands along with the back of his thighs. It wasn’t a shower, but it would do.

When he was ready, he stepped back out, glad to see the crowd of businessmen were gone and he headed to the bar for some ice water.

He only had time for a sip before he saw Eames coming in.

His anger spiked again - mad at himself for even caring that he showed up and mad that he really wanted to go over to him while at the same time, not wanting to even be touched.

There was no option however, Eames having seen him when he came in and he sat at the bar beside him.

“I apologize for being so late.”

“I didn’t even notice.”

Arthur didn’t look at him. He just kept his back to the bar and drank his water. However, he flinched and finally turned towards Eames when he felt a brush of his fingers over his arm.

“Sorry, I just noticed the marks. Are you all right?”

He nodded and didn’t answer him any further.

“It’s a bad night tonight, isn’t it?”

Arthur looked at him again and then down at the floor as he replied,

“Yes.”

Eames nodded and ordered his scotch. While he waited for it, he said,

“I can leave if you want.”

Arthur frowned, tormented between being angry and vulnerable. Instead, he shook his head and looked back at Eames.

“It’s fine.”

Eames nodded and got his scotch soon afterwards. He drank it slowly while Arthur stood quietly beside him and when he was done, he stood up and took out his wallet to pay for the drink. Much to Arthur’s surprise, he felt Eames tap his arm and hand him the money he would have earned for the private dance.

Shocked, Arthur couldn’t respond as Eames leaned close to him and spoke to him over the loudness of the music.

“Maybe another time. Good night, dove.”

He left without another word and for the second time that night, Arthur felt shaken but now for another reason entirely.


End file.
